Changes to SAT are unnecessary

I firmly agree with Kathleen Parker's March 12 column about changes to the SAT. The College Board is making unnecessary and even defective changes and additions to the SAT to focus on the skills that are necessary for college. For example, collegeboard.com states that the SAT will include passages from the nation's founding documents, which is unhelpful because knowledge of these documents is not necessary for entrance to a college. Also, the SAT will eliminate the penalty for wrong answers. As said by collegeboard.org, "this move to rights-only scoring encourages students to give the best answer they have to every problem." True. However, it also encourages students to study seldom, and to guess often.

The problem is not low test scores; it is poor preparation. If schools could better prepare their students to take the SAT, there would be no need to change it. After all, SAT stands for Scholastic Assessment Test. It would not be much of an assessment if it is so easy that anyone can get a good score.

Erin Kisch

Indianapolis

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Changes to SAT are unnecessary

I firmly agree with Kathleen Parker's March 12 column about changes to the SAT. The College Board is making unnecessary and even defective changes and additions to the SAT to focus on the skills that